The graphic packages on muscle-era Mopars ran the gamut from simple to…well, stupendous. When we consider the various ways graphics were put on ’71 Chargers, for instance, or ’71-’72 Road Runners, there were several options, some simple, and some complex. And anyone who has ever tried to put ’71-style billboards on a ’Cuda can tell you it might teach you a new cuss word or three. While great companies in the aftermarket offer excellent products, car owners in sunny climates find another issue endemic to stripes—sun fading and cracking. Jeff Richey runs a body shop called Affordable Auto Paint in Ft. Pierce, Florida, and has been Mopar-focused as a hobby since working in the family Dodge franchise as a child. Jeff learned how to stripe in the old days, gave it up when it fell out of favor as...

Dodge’s marketing department kept pretty busy in the late 1960s. Like many manufacturers, they wanted some slogan to match the product line coming from the factories and the business was selling the idea of power. In 1968, the company chose to add a set of wrap around stripes to the rear of the hotter models – Dart GTS, Coronet R/T, Super Bee, and Charger R/T – and called the group “The Scat Pack”. Adding to this were wild representations of bumblebees with smoking tires that ran in magazine and dealership advertising, likely done by Warner Brothers, who was handling the Road Runner campaign at the same time. To say it was memorable would be an understatement. Jeff Richey grew up around a Dodge franchise in this era. He has been a body and paint man most of his life,...